Language
by Zskax
Summary: Shiro finds Shura and takes her with him after defeating her snake captor, except now she won't speak to anyone in Japanese. She hisses and screams and fights everyone. Out of desperation Shiro begs Mephisto to talk to her. He does. He hates the way that wildling girl's gotten under his skin and never left. (Shuristo? Mephisto Shura?) ROWAN HAPPY BIRTHDAY YOU RASCAL YOU!


Shiro Fujimoto brings in a wildling. She is vicious and small and his superiors tell him to kill her. Especially after she bites one of them.

''It is cruel to let a child live like this.''

''Bound to a demon, can you believe that fate. Tragic.''

The worst is no one can understand her. It a demon's tongue she speaks. Raised by heathens, brought up to be a slave. Shiro can't make them listen no matter how much he says she _can_ speak, that she just hasn't spoken a word since she watched the snake demon be killed. Or so they all think in their kind ignorance.

''He was like a father to her or something.'' He mumbles to Mephisto when options are running out. A cigarette in Shiro's mouth and a scowl on Mephisto's usually amused face. Shiro just chalks it up as his hatred for everything tobacco.

''Well, what are you going to do, Shiro-kun?'' Mephisto asks him nonchalantly, his expression distant, but ears keen. Attentive and all-hearing. Shiro lights the cigarette and takes a drag before speaking. It's a small cruelty he loves inflicting upon his friend.

He exhales the smoke. ''I got no fucking idea.'' He takes another puff of smoke inside his lungs, urging for death.

Mephisto opens his mouth to speak, but Shiro – like an uncivilised street urchin that has NO idea of MANNERS and proper communication and conduct and well, honestly, anything - talks over him and screams. ''WHY DON'T _YOU_ TALK TO HER?!''

''Pardon?'' The way Samael, crowned demon king of Gehenna, drawls out the word makes Shiro shift awkwardly. The discomfort in both is apparent.

''You're a demon.'' Shiro pokes Mephisto gently in the chest and grins widely, his glasses crooked from all of the excited movements. ''She'll wanna talk to you since ya both know the language.'' Like a proud drunk Shiro swayed and waited for affirmation – because of COURSE Mephisto wouldn't say no to such a small favour that Shiro will have to pay tenfold more expensive.

''Fine.'' Mephisto wrinkles his nose in annoyance and the twirl atop his head twitches.

''Awww Mephi, you're _amazing_.'' Shiro pats him twice on the shoulder and ushers him towards the Wildling's room – Shiro's room. Better to share a room with a messy man like himself than to be put in a cage, after all.

The girl takes one look at Mephisto and hisses.

''She saying anything yet?'' Shiro asks and thrusts his hands into his coat pocket.

''She speaks the tongue of the nouveu riche.'' Mephisto says evenly. ''I'm going to need some time to adjust to such idiocy.''

''Seriously?'' Shiro's eyes widen in disbelief.

''No, Shiro-pon,'' he snorts, ''she's just hissing at me out of fear like an animal. Are you certain she can speak?'' The exasperation, sometimes cute on the demon king, is nothing more than absolute frustration for Shiro right now.

''Yes.'' He snarls through gritted teeth.

 _''Who are you?''_ Mephisto says in a language Shiro's never heard before. The girl bristles and looks for exits to exploit.

Finding none, she clenches her hands into fists and says. _''Kirigakure.''_

Mephisto smiles at her and then turns to Shiro and says. ''You did not tell me she was of the Kirigakure clan of ninjas.''

''I didn't know she was –''

Mephisto turns back to Kirigakure and asks. _''Do you understand me?''_

Kirigakure shifts a tad, her flaming red hair covers her eyes as she pouts. _''You talk stupid.''_

 _''Tell that to my father.''_ Mephisto chuckles and takes a step towards her. She instantly flinches and braces for impact. The demon king doesn't move again. _''You speak the common tongue. Well, one of many. I speak the formal tongue.''_

Shiro, in the sidelines for once in his life, asks. ''Oi, Mephisto, what's she saying?''

Mephisto utterly ignores him. Everyone is silent for a bit until Mephisto speaks again, this time a tad differently. The expression on his face is of pain. Embarrassment most likely. _''How about now, young one? Can you understand me now?''_

Kirigakure nods, a wide grin on her face. She takes a step towards him and he doesn't move, waits on her to say something , and smiles again when she does. _''Much better, Twirly.''_

Twirly. Dearest Gehenna who art sentient, grant Mephisto the patience not to strangle the misinformed child.

''Does she have a name?'' Shiro manages to fight for his right to speak. Mephisto sends him a glare that clearly says he dislikes children and hasn't been around them ever unless they were his siblings.

''No.'' Mephisto says and then adds. ''What do you want to name her?''

''Shura sounds nice.''

 _''Your name is now Shura Kirigakure. Do you understand?''_

Shura nods and steps right up to Mephisto. He balks at the shameless child hugging him and pats her on the head twice – mimicking Shiro's movements.

''Aww, she likes you!''

''I WANNA MARRY YOU!'' Shura clings onto Mephisto's pant leg- the Japanese are so short, thinks the German clad demon –and doesn't budge when he attempts to shake her off.

''I'm technically engaged. Speak to my father about any such things, Shura dear.'' Mephisto laughs and pries Shura's fingers off of him. He bids his farewell and disappears on a count of three.

''He's funny.'' Shura says in Japanese and smiles widely at Shiro.

''Yea,'' Shiro whispers, ''that he is.''

They don't kill Shura Kirigakure that day. Or the next one or the one after that. In fact, Shura Kirigakure manages to live until she's twenty without any disturbances or attempts on her life – at least from the Church.

* * *

Shura is fire Shura is reckless Shura is freedom. The sword inside her hisses and beckons and she gladly listens to its hums. When it is in her hands she knows how to use it. Shiro is her mentor, always by her side on a mission. It's them against the world of demons – until he brings along a child with glasses. She loves the kid.

But he's just too scared of everything for her to take him seriously. Who's scared of Mephisto fucking Pheles?

Apparently most.

That just speaks volumes of her self-preservation skills. ''Fuck.'' Shura whispers – one of the few words she's known all her life – and ushers Yukio inside. Shiro's late. Fuck. Yukio is terrified, but trying to hide it. Fuck. She can smell it on him, like a bad odour no amount of baths and salts can extinguish. Her nose is stuffed, but Mephisto's never is.

''Just calm down would ya?'' She fusses with him and he sends her a childish glare.

''I am calm. It's not my problem demons make me uncomfortable.''

Shura rolls her eyes and pushes him inside. She waves a hand and says. ''Heey Sir Pheles.'' It's so weird calling him that. Pretences! Pretences! Manners Shura, MANNERS!

''Ah, Fujimoto-kun isn't with you?'' His twirl twitches. ''Is he on a smoke break?''

Shura shrugs. ''Probably.'' Yukio is appalled at the way both grownups talk about his father. ''He doesn't know self control.'' Says a woman with an alcohol problem to a demon king of time and space who can't wait for spring anime to start thus he forwards himself in time to watch it.

''Should I just give the mission report, your highness, or should we wait for Shiro?'' Shura grins and watches as the bound demon gives her a sour look.

Yukio pulls back and observes the two. They're weird, he thinks, like two lovers who tease each other as friends. Like Nii-san's manga.

''I THINK'' Mephisto says, ''that young Okumura-kun ought to give his first report. It'll do him good as practise.'' The demon leers, teeth stretched and glistening, eyes mad, filled with power. Fear grips him like he's a tangled marionette.

Nonetheless when a marionette is tugged, it dances.

Mephisto's eyes are fixed on the puny child before him. Proper and pristine, uniform wrinkled due to battle but otherwise pressed. Adorable. Frightened. An echo to his brother's scream.

''…and then Kirigakure Shura charged into battle head on-''

Mephisto tunes Yukio out. His mind is static buzzing because there's something it can't process. A thread of film cut in between scenes he's missing. Benign at first, but then horrible, then meandering thoughts of w-questions, then guesses.

Shura Kirigakure shifts on the heels of her feet dumbly and smiles. What a foolish woman. Bright like a star, sharp as a well tended blade, foolhardy to the maximum.

Then realisation.

It has been a long time since Faust.

Mephisto leans onto his elbows and catches Yukio's last sentence before dismissing him.

Her he tells to stay.

She gives him a crooked grin , eyes hungry, demeanour casual. He hates the fact that she's not afraid of him. He loathes the idea of her uncomfortable around him even more.

The snake inside her hisses and he'll tear it out if he must. Her symphony won't be interrupted so easily.

'' _Ya wanted to see me, yer twirly higness?''_

It's an odd combination of the formal tongue of Gehenna's aristocracy and the common filth the working class speak in anger.

He refuses to indulge her. ''I'm starting to think you've a death wish, Shura-san,'' he reclines in his armchair and stipples his fingers. ''So reckless in battle! It works, of course it works, but for how long will luck follow you?''

''I dunno what yer saying.'' Her smile broadens. Eyes predatory. _Disrespectful_ **minx**.

She's leering at him. The flame moves towards him. Shura sits on his desk and says, ''I think you should explain, _Samael._ '' He cups her face in his hands and enjoys the way she struggles. The way she realises that maybe the flame she harbours isn't enough to survive his ocean.

''Are you aware of what you're implying, Shura-chan?'' He asks her, stern. The jeer in his voice somehow subdued. Like a tyrant who ruins all.

''Yes.'' Shura says and Samael pulls her into a kiss. Tastes her and demands more, craves , hungers, lusts after her. She returns each kiss eagerly and wraps arms around his neck , tugging him towards her. Tug. Pull. Fuck.

Mephisto Pheles pushes her away and she looks offended until Shiro knocks and opens the door without so much as a 'you may enter'. They exchange looks and Shiro doesn't say anything on the way the usually clean air tingles differently, like someone's added a new perfume into the mix but less laboratory more chemistry. Or the way the room's sounds are off; Mephisto's paper rustles have an added level of irritation. Shura can't wait for him to leave and that's when it hits him. Strikes. Destroys what little sanity Shiro's managed to keep hold of over the years.

He looks at Shura then, really looks at her, and sees a woman. Not a little wildling girl. A woman.

He then glares at Mephisto and finds a demon royal stuck doing humanity's paperwork.

''Can I sign any reports and get out of ya hair?'' he asks and when Samael snaps his fingers a piece of paper appears right in front of his face. A pen in his hand magically placed. Shiro signs without thinking and adds, ''Well, that's that.''

''I'm amazed by your trust, Shiro-kun. Signing everything a demon gives you is a bad idea.'' The demon king mushes his face in his hand, perched on his elbow, and observes the man with bored eyes.

''You didn't put a clause in here for my soul, did you?'' Shiro narrows his eyes and waits.

Mephisto shakes his head. ''A waste of time.''

Whether he's talking about that joke or the fact that Shiro's wasting THEIR precious time lingers on Shiro's mind.

Shura sits in a chair and crosses her legs.

Neither want to just even ATTEMPT to apologise for what Shiro knows is ABOUT TO HAPPEN? Shiro really sees that they're more demon than human. Or just shameless…Hard to tell.

''OK, so I'll leave now. Yeah bye ya crazy kids.''

He closes the door and bolts.

Samael stands up, strides over to Shura who greets him standing, and kisses her gently at first. She bites his lip and he growls. She hisses and it's so, so gratifying!

Fuck.

Guess he'll have to hunt down a snake demon.

* * *

HAPPY BRITHDAY ROWAN!

REVIEWS LEAVE ME REVIEWS Y'ALL


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